Supermarket Sweep

The carts were lined-up side-by-side, like thoroughbreds at Calder. Suddenly they went off in several directions, racing down the supermarket's aisles. It was a scene reminiscent of Supermarket Sweep, the television game show that ran on the ABC Network in the mid-1960s and had a few revivals on other television networks years later. But in the Jewish Federation of Broward County 's version of Supermarket Sweep last Thursday evening, 16 four-woman teams competed in a Girls Night Out at a Publix Supermarket on University Drive in Parkland.

The carts were lined-up side-by-side, like thoroughbreds at Calder. Suddenly they went off in several directions, racing down the supermarket's aisles. It was a scene reminiscent of Supermarket Sweep, the television game show that ran on the ABC Network in the mid-1960s and had a few revivals on other television networks years later. But in the Jewish Federation of Broward County 's version of Supermarket Sweep last Thursday evening, 16 four-woman teams competed in a Girls Night Out at a Publix Supermarket on University Drive in Parkland.

I`m sure you`re as excited as I am by the prospect of getting 500 stations on cable TV. Within a few years, I`m told, the cable TV business will be revolutionized to the point that we can catch F Troop reruns on a `round-the-clock basis and It`s a Wonderful Life will begin ushering in the Christmas season sometime in early July. There will be some drawbacks, of course. For one thing, to avail yourself of the new technology, you will need a remote control clicker the size and heft of a microwave oven.

I`m sure you`re as excited as I am by the prospect of getting 500 stations on cable TV. Within a few years, I`m told, the cable TV business will be revolutionized to the point that we can catch F Troop reruns on a `round-the-clock basis and It`s a Wonderful Life will begin ushering in the Christmas season sometime in early July. There will be some drawbacks, of course. For one thing, to avail yourself of the new technology, you will need a remote control clicker the size and heft of a microwave oven.

The category is Dying Breeds. The clue: "A once-popular form of daytime television that has all but disappeared from the networks." Don`t forget to phrase your answer in the form of a question. If you said, "What are game shows?" you`re correct. Next month, NBC will bid farewell to Wheel of Fortune and Classic Concentration, its last two game shows. Earlier this summer, ABC cashed in its remaining game show, The Match Game. That leaves just two survivors for next season: The Price Is Right and Family Feud, both on CBS. "In the 35 years that I have been on television, I have seen game shows behave just like the stock market," said longtime Price Is Right host Bob Barker.

Like every genre on television, television game shows have had their shares of ups and downs. The latest dip occurred in the late `80s, when networks and local stations dropped game shows to make room for talk shows and reality programming. Still, viewers have remained loyal to the surviving games, notably Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right. The public`s interest has not gone unnoticed. This week, NBC replaces its canceled soap opera Santa Barbara with two game shows.

Like Canada geese heading north, so come seasonal flocks of delivery trucks bearing wedding gifts. All over the nation, brides and grooms (and who knows how many empty closets) are awaiting the springtime deluge of gifts: blenders, crystal bowls and silver-plated ice buckets. Like marriage itself, these gifts will invariably elicit both joy and disappointment. For every coveted sterling-silver place setting, there will be the His-and-Hers plastic TV trays, elephant-head cheese cutters and claw- footed soup tureens in quadruplicate.

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Herman and Odessa Randall were sitting in their living room on Saturday, watching the end of Supermarket Sweep on television when they heard a crash outside and saw a car headed toward their neat, white house. At the wheel was Alecia Griffith, 9, driving for the first time in her life. Her tiny face was barely visible over the dashboard. The car smacked into the carport and would have ended up in their living room if Herman Randall had not been able to reach in the window and throw the car out of gear.

Amid all the uproar over last week's cheesy Fox Network special Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? -- which racked up huge ratings and then fell, hard, from grace -- can the following game shows be far behind? "Who'll Eat a Ferret for $10 Million?" Sure, your standard 25-inch domestic ferret tastes awful -- and it packs a mean bite. But that's the whole point! Tune in as contestants -- armed only with condiments -- attempt to devour a live ferret in a hilarious bid for huge cash prizes!

I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, but lately I have begun to take notice of how overindulgent parents have become with their children. And we, as a community, just stand by and accept it no matter how much it infringes on our space. When I was growing up, families moved out of the cities and into the suburbs, so their children would have their very own back yard in which to play -- safely. Playing in the streets was not something any parent wanted for their children. And yet I now live in an upscale suburban neighborhood where the homes are averaging well over half a million dollars, and parents are putting traffic cones and other signs in the streets warning drivers of children playing.

Like every genre on television, television game shows have had their shares of ups and downs. The latest dip occurred in the late `80s, when networks and local stations dropped game shows to make room for talk shows and reality programming. Still, viewers have remained loyal to the surviving games, notably Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right. The public`s interest has not gone unnoticed. This week, NBC replaces its canceled soap opera Santa Barbara with two game shows.

The category is Dying Breeds. The clue: "A once-popular form of daytime television that has all but disappeared from the networks." Don`t forget to phrase your answer in the form of a question. If you said, "What are game shows?" you`re correct. Next month, NBC will bid farewell to Wheel of Fortune and Classic Concentration, its last two game shows. Earlier this summer, ABC cashed in its remaining game show, The Match Game. That leaves just two survivors for next season: The Price Is Right and Family Feud, both on CBS. "In the 35 years that I have been on television, I have seen game shows behave just like the stock market," said longtime Price Is Right host Bob Barker.

Call it the Supermarket Sweep conundrum: In performing certain tasks, is it better to be fast or accurate? Or, in the context of the game show, if you have only a minute or two to fill a shopping cart with a load as valuable as possible, is it better to zip down the aisles, randomly flinging boxes and cans into the cart, or take your time and zero in on the extra-virgin olive oil and canned hams? Bumblebees, apparently, would go for the canned hams. According to a team of researchers from Britain, Germany and Australia, the insects consistently trade off foraging speed for accuracy if there's something in it for them.

It was crazy. How long it will last is anyone's guess. Within 10 days in late December, the value of the Mexican peso versus the U.S. dollar plummeted by about 40 percent, the result of a decision by the Mexican government to devalue the peso and a subsequent decision to let market forces set its worth. In real money terms, a dollar that at midmonth bought about 3.40 in pesos bought 5.70 before settling back to about 4.90 and unsettling again after Jan. 1. In real tourist terms - for those tourists who knew what was going on - it was really something.